These systems would augment the FAA's domestic ground-based ADS-B infrastructure, set to be operational as early as 2013 with full implementation in 2020.

The proposed ADS-B Technologies system would use the Globalstar (NASDAQ:GSAT) Second Generation Low Earth Orbit constellation and the company's proprietary ADS-B Link Augmentation System (ALAS) avionics interface to provide real-time aircraft position information to the FAA. The system has been designed to augment existing terrestrial systems by allowing aircraft to be precisely tracked by controllers in areas where conventional surveillance methods are either impossible or impractical to employ. In addition to FAA tracking, individual aircraft could be equipped to see each other and receive real time weather and airspace information from authorized sources on the ground.

On December 28, six more second-generation Globalstar satellites were successfully launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, using the Soyuz launch vehicle. This was Globalstar's third successful multi-satellite launch in a little more than a year.

"This means that Globalstar is now three-quarters of the way toward its goal of launching 24 new high speed, high capacity satellites capable of supporting our NextGen space based air traffic management system," said Skip Nelson, president of ADS-B Technologies LLC. "It also means that we are on track for full scale operational testing by late 2014, should the FAA or any other civil aviation organization require it."